26 FEONTIER FORTS AND SETTLEMENTS. [1763, July. 



the fringed hunting-frocks of old Indian fighters, 

 wary and adroit as the red-skinned warriors them- 

 selves. They liked the sport, and were eager to 

 sally from behind their defences, and bring their 

 assailants to close quarters ; but Ecuyer was too 

 wise to consent. He was among them, as well 

 pleased as they, directing, encouraging, and ap- 

 plauding them in his broken English. An arrow 

 flew over the rampart and wounded him in the leg ; 

 but, it seems, with no other result than to extort a 

 passing execration. The Indians shot fire-arrows, 

 too, from their burrows, but not one of them took 

 efiect. The yelling at times was terrific, and the 

 women and children in the crowded barracks clung 

 to each other in terror ; but there was more noise 

 than execution, and the assailants suffered more 

 than the assailed. Three or four days after, 

 Ecuyer wrote in French to his colonel, '• They were 

 all well under cover, and so were we. They did 

 us no harm : nobody killed ; seven wounded, and I 

 myself slightly. Their attack lasted five days and 

 five nights. We are certain of having killed and 

 wounded twenty of them, wdthout reckoning those 

 we could not see. I let nobody fire till he had 

 marked his man ; and not an Indian could show his 

 nose wdthout being pricked with a bullet, for I have 

 some good shots here. . . . Our men are doing 

 admirably, regulars and the rest. All that they 

 ask is to go out and fight. I am fortunate to have 

 the honor of commanding such brave men. I only 

 wish the Indians had ventured an assault. They 

 would have remembered it to the thousandth gen- 



